Facing the Past
by QueensOfSpice
Summary: Midorikawa is scared to face everyone after what he's done, but with Hiroto there to encourage him, he manages to gather up the courage to do so. - One-shot


Midorikawa gave a nervous glance to his friend Hiroto, who in turn gave him a reassuring smile and said, "Don't worry, you'll be fine."

The two of them had just arrived at Raimon Junior High, having both received invitations from Hibiki. They didn't know why they were there or who else would be there, only that it was all for soccer. It was safe to say; however, that a good portion of the Raimon team would be there, meaning the people Midorikawa had hospitalized while they were still claiming to be aliens.

Midorikawa bit his lip and turned his head away from Hiroto to look back at Raimon. He remembered when he first destroyed the building. At the time, he thought nothing of it. Now, his heart was weighed down by guilt just thinking about that.

"What if they're still mad? I shouldn't have come along… I hurt so many people, destroyed so many schools…"

"You've never done that in your life. Reize did, but not you."

Hiroto gently tugged on the other boy's sleeve to pull him forward slightly, signaling that he was going in. Hesitantly, Midorikawa followed right behind him.

They entered directly into the gym, where a group had already formed and different people were socializing with one another. Some people, Midorikawa had never seen, while others had been part of the Raimon Eleven. Many of which he had injured, hospitalized, in their first game.

The first thing the green haired boy did when he entered the room was he went off to a corner all by himself and avoided all eye contact. When Hiroto notice this, he frowned and made his way over to his friend.

"Hey, trust me, no one here is going to blame you. Not from the Raimon team, that is."

"Yeah, but not everyone here was on the Raimon Eleven, Hiroto… You don't know if they'll be mad or not."

"Hey, I've got your back if anyone tries to start anything, okay?" Hiroto gave a warm, friendly smile.

Midorikawa hesitated before responding with, "Okay. Thank you." He returned a smile.

"Hiroto!" A voice called out to the redhead. When the two looked over, they saw a familiar, platinum blonde haired striker approaching them.

"Gouenji!" Hiroto seemed excited that the ace striker of the Raimon Eleven had arrived. Midorikawa; however, had turned his head slightly in hopes that the other wouldn't be able to recognize his face.

Gouenji seemed surprised by the other boy's actions. The first thoughts that came to mind were that he had somehow managed to upset the green haired boy in the past, yet he couldn't remember ever meeting him.

Quickly Hiroto, continued the conversation, sensing Midorikawa didn't have the will to face the other. "It's good to see you're here. I hope Endou-Kun was invited, too."

"Trust me, Endou was probably the first one Hibiki decided to invite." Gouenji replied, focusing his attention on Hiroto instead of the other boy.

This statement seemed to prove itself true when the overly cheerful brunette walked in the room, arriving with another person no one had met before.

Gouenji had automatically made his way over and began to converse with Endou.

"If you just spoke with him, you'd understand why I can easily say he won't blame you." Hiroto received no answer to his statement. Releasing a sigh, he simply turned away and made his way over to where Endou was.

"Another person's here." Midorikawa heard Hiroto announce. When Hiroto turned to look directly at him, the green haired boy almost froze up entirely. This was just like Hiroto. Forcing him to introduce himself like this.

Midorikawa gathered up all of his confidence and composer before he began to head in their general direction. He may as well just get this all over with. Introduce himself first as Reize, then as Midorikawa. His heart was pounding so hard in his chest that he felt it would burst out at any second.

"What's with that eerie aura?" One of the boys Midorikawa didn't recognize asked.

"Hey, Hiroto," Endou questioned only moments later, "who's that?"

For a few seconds the room was silent as Midorikawa simply twirled a loose bit of hair around on his finger. When he had wrapped it all the way around, he finally spoke. "How rude." His hand dropped down, his hair uncoiling from his finger in the process.

"Earth has a saying that goes like this," He raised the finger opposite of the one he'd twirled his hair with and shut his eyes as he spoke. "Pay close attention to the man you've not seen in three days."

Automatically, the Raimon group knew who he was.

Kabeyama spoke first with, "That phrasing…"

Kurimatsu followed up with, "I know now!"

"Reize!" Someoka was the one to finally announce.

Fubuki continued, "Captain of Aliea Gakuen's Gemini Storm!"

To say Midorikawa was scared of what their next actions would be was an understatement. He was absolutely terrified of what they would do next. Quickly, he dropped the act and used his regular personality.

"Oh, come on now!" he put both hands in the air just by his head and he forced a smile as he spoke. "That was my alien name." He lowered his hands to rest on his hips. "I've got a real name you know. It's Midorikawa Ryuuji."

Right away, he received hostility. Just as he had expected. One of the other's, one he'd never met, jumped right in his face and shouted at him. "Midorikawa, my ass! You destroyed my school, like yeah!"

Midorikawa flinched and shrunk back as the other yelled. He gave a quick glace to Hiroto, whom seemed as if he was about to jump in for Midorikawa's defense. However, the green haired boy knew a way to get across to the rest that he acted nothing like he had while being Reize.

"Oh that… Look, I'm really, really sorry about all that…" Midorikawa's voice came out sounding far more nervous than he had intended. "Just between us, I had to really work hard to develop my alien character."

By the time he had finished speaking, the other had backed off, much to both his and Hiroto's relief. Everyone but Hiroto was in a state of slight shock at the difference in his and Reize's personality.

"It's like he's a completely different person…" He heard Kazemaru comment.

His confidence having built up in the short time he spoke, the green haired boy went on, "So with that, I say to you: All's well that ends well! Call me Midorikawa from now on!" He put his arms behind his head and tilted it somewhat to the side, no longer having to force his smile.

"He's using another famous saying…" Kabeyama stated and they all laughed it off.

Hiroto was right, Midorikawa never needed to be so scared over what the other's thought. They were all great, forgiving people!


End file.
